Shane Richie and Jessie Wallace were left reeling at the cliffhanger (Picture: Patrick Redmond/BBC)

Warning: Article contains spoilers for episode one of Redwater

The EastEnders spin-off show Kat and Alfie: Redwater definitely got off to a dramatic start. The first episode hit the ground running by chucking in a shocking death of a main character right at the end.

We discovered that the man Kat (Jessie Wallace) thinks is her son, isn’t her son, and it’s actually seemingly mild-mannered priest Dermott. Only the Walford couple have absolutely no idea that they’ve got the wrong man.

Then the climax of the episode saw Dermott (Oisin Stack) find out Kat is his birth mother, only for him to turn villainous and brutally murder Lance (Ian McElhinney) – the man who told him the truth – by drowning him in the sea. It was also implied that he might have helped send his mum to a watery grave when he was child.

Dermott found out Kat is his birth mother (Picture: Patrick Redmond/BBC)

Of course Kat and Alfie have no idea what Dermott has done, so fans will have to keep watching to see if they find out or – more importantly – if Dermott kills again.

It was definitely an unexpected twist, and it was one that left the stars reeling as much the audience.

Jessie told Metro.co.uk: ‘I thought the ending was great because it’s the first episode and there’s a cliffhanger on the very first one. Something major’s just happened so it gets people interested to watch the second episode.’

Will Kat discover the truth about Dermott? (Picture: Patrick Redmond/BBC)

Her co-star Shane Richie, who plays Alfie Moon, added: ‘Also what’s interesting about the first episode is you’re kind of giving the secret away, which is very courageous to do, so therefore the following episode, you’re kind of following the story because you know you’ve given it all away. Or well you think you have, in the first episode. I think it’s very clever.’

Lance was killed in the first episode (Picture: Patrick Redmond/BBC)

The pair filmed a total of six episodes of Redwater, and praised the experience of working on a drama rather than a soap.

‘You might just be doing two scenes in a day. Whereas with EastEnders you’re banging out scene after scene, you don’t really get a chance to rehearse.

‘You rehearse as you’re doing it, and I was always left feeling like I could have done better. With Redwater you can take your time and you’ve got all day to do it. It’s single camera and a pretty different environment.’